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The Lead

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a cost-sharing agreement has been reached with the provinces and territories to provide lower-earning essential workers wage top-ups.

It will be up to provincial and territorial governments, some of whom have already introduced wage increases for some essential workers, to decide which workers qualify and how much they will receive.

Ottawa will provide up to $3 billion for the effort with the provinces and territories offering $1 billion.

Greyhound Canada is temporarily cancelling all of its bus routes and services as ridership plummets amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting May 13, the bus company will halt all routes until passenger demand recovers.

The bus operator says ridership has dropped by 95 per cent, which has already led Greyhound to decrease services twice since March.

A large majority of Canadians that responded to a federal consultation on medical assistance in dying (MAiD) supported expanding access to patients suffering from dementia, according to new documents tabled in the House.

The Liberal government, however, did not heed that request and introduced less expansive changes to the MAiD framework earlier this year, in hopes of quickly passing court-mandated amendments to the existing law.

Documents provided to MPs in April contained the results of the more than 300,000 online submissions that were made to the Department of Justice as part of the consultation it conducted in January on how the MAiD eligibility should be revised.

The federal government is leaning on provincial and territorial governments to chip in to help cash-starved municipalities facing large financial shortfalls because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has asked the Trudeau government for at least $10 billion in aid to cover an estimated $10- to $15-billion loss in revenue for local governments in the near term.

The organization representing hundreds of municipalities across the country said Ottawa was in the strongest financial position to provide support.

As Ontario faces calls from Toronto public health to consider new measures to combat overdose deaths — including ‘safe supply’ programs like one in British Columbia — its top medical officer is drawing a contrast between the challenges faced in B.C. and Ontario.

“They have big challenges there. We don’t exactly have that,” Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, David Williams, said on Wednesday about British Columbia — after labelling the overdose challenges experienced in Vancouver as “one-of-a-kind.”

“We have a larger, wide-spread (challenge) in a number of different municipalities, and each one is a little bit different,” Williams said.

The organization said Thursday that it is abandoning its controversial smart city plans that had envisioned a state-of-the-art neighbourhood on a derelict parcel of land that had drawn the ire of those concerned with the privacy implications of living or moving through an area that is under constant surveillance.

The U.S. Justice Department is dropping charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador during Donald Trump’s transition into the presidency. Flynn’s was one of the first and highest-ranking Trump aides to cooperate and be convicted in Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (Washington Post)

There are almost four million confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported worldwide. More than one million people have recovered from the illness. More than 265,000 have died after getting sick. (The Guardian)

One week from Georgia becoming one of the first states to re-open parts of its economy including dine-in restaurants, hair salons and other businesses, there were more than 60,000 visitors to the state daily, according to smartphone location data. “It’s exactly the kind of effect we’ve been worried about,” said Meagan Fitzpatrick, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, about the data which fellow researchers suggest that reopening state economies ahead of others could worsen and prolong the spread of COVID-19. (Washington Post)

Economists expect the monthly jobs report being published by the Labor Department tomorrow to show that unemployment has reached a Great Depression-like level in the U.S. (New York Times)

Lockdown measures being peeled back in France will remain in Paris and other north-eastern regions, French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe says. With almost 26,000 people succumbing to the disease in hospitals and care homes, France has suffered one of the highest COVID-19 death rates in Europe. (BBC News)

Madrid’s public health director quit in protest to the regional government’s decision to peel back lockdown restrictions in the part of Spain that’s been hit hardest by the coronavirus. (The Guardian)

At least 13 people were killed in a gas leak at a chemical plant in southern India. Around 800 others have been taken to the hospital with symptoms including difficulties breathing and a burning sensation in their eyes. (BBC News)

The Kicker

The outrage of a cohort of Democratic lawmakers has led to Frontier Airlines abandoning its plan to sell passengers a social distancing upgrade. For just $39 the company was guaranteeing passengers that they would sit next to an empty middle seat while flying during the pandemic. The Washington Post reports.